Moreover, the author’s claim of Dhulbahante and Warsangeli tribes becoming like the Kurdish minority of Somaliland is laughable, and I should say that is the joke of the day.

If the author can distinguish Dhulbahante or Warsangeli tribes from other tribes in Somaliland, such as Isaaq, Gudabiirsay or Iise, then he deserves standing ovation because such observations would be equivalent to the discoveries of an anthropologist.

The author’s attempt to divide Somaliland people by revisiting the darkest history of the nation and at the same time expressing sympathy for the victims of the civil war is a classic example of a wolf hiding in sheep’s clothing.

Nonetheless, the Warsangeli were initially represented at the meeting of elders, customary chiefs, academics, politicians and soldiers, that took place at Borama in February of 1993 (The Horn of Africa Bulletin Mar.-Apr. 1993, 27).

Relations between the Warsangeli and the Issaq appear to be tense.

According to the Sinaku professor of African studies, President Ibrahim Egal is a member of the Habr Awal sub-clan of the Isse Musa, a sub-clan of the Issaq (4 May 1994).

Their territory was occupied by Britain only after a long and bitter armed struggle lasting almost a quarter century, and with the end of the occupation, they were only too glad to regain their freedom and to rejoin their kinsmen on the other side of that unnatural, European-imposed barrier.

That is why, upon the disintegration of the country into clan-dominated enclaves, the Dhulbahante and Warsangeli formed the Puntland Regional Administration together with their Harti and Darod clansmen in the northeast.

They base their extrme position on resentment of the treatment their people rceived at the hands of the former government, but that government is no longer in place.

For example, the Land of Punt (currently Warsangeli territory), Makhir, (commercial center of the North also territory of Warsangeli), were all societies that excelled in the art of architecture, agricultural and civil engineering.

The Warsangeli complained to me sadly of their decline in power since the English had interfered in their fights with the (Isaaq), which took place near Aden about seven years ago, and had deprived them of their vessels for creating a disturbance, which interfered with the ordinary routine of Traffic.

The Warsangeli clan within the British protectorate on the eastern coast who under their spirited leader Gerad Mohamoud Ali Shire had now decided to throw in their lot with the Dervishes and in Jan 1908, fired on a British dhow as it was landing on their coast.

Bihidor clan (Warsangeli subclan) first withdrew their loyalty and support from the Sultan, thus making unflinching decision to join the Dervishes and defeat the army of the Sultan.

Thus, this new protectorate raised the concerns of both the Mijertein and Warsangeli sultanates in which they foresaw dangerous wave of tides immersing their protectorate particularly after the treaty.

Finally, forces of Warsangeli and Dervishes met at Jidali and this was in fact the final decimation of the Dervishes.

The fighting broke out between Warsangeli under-clan militiamen loyal to the warlord Mohammed Dhereh and Agonyar community militia tied to Dahir Dayah, Interior Minister of the Somali Transition Government (TNG).

The Associated Press quoted residents that the fighting began after a vehicle carrying Warsangeli clansmen was stopped at a Agonyar militiamen checkpoint in north Mogadishu manned and two assault rifles confiscated.

Warsangeli fighters then called for help from kinsmen and a total of seven "technicals" mounting with heavy machine guns gathered at the Fagah junction and began a heavy exchange of fire.

The Warsangeli have a long history in which they were dominant and prestigious whereas the Dhulbahante were often ruled by an outsider from the region of Ogaden, who even killed their main sultan.

Nonetheless, the Warsangeli were initially represented at the meeting of elders, customary chiefs, academics, politicians and soldiers, that took place at Borama in February of 1993 (The Horn of Africa Bulletin Mar.-Apr. 1993, 27).

Civilians, who evacuated the area after fighting escalated between the Warsangeli and Agon-Yar sub-clans, are returning and public transport services have resumed operations.

Fighting between the two sides was sparked by clan feuds and not politics but relations between the Warsangeli and Agon-Yar sub-clans has not been good since the Warsangeli warlord Mohamed Omar Habeb attacked the residence of the Agon-Yar interior minister in Mogadishu a few months back.

During fighting Wednesday the Warsangeli troops freed the FAO representative in Somalia, Mohammed Farah Omar, who had been held captive by rival militia men for eight days.

If the author can distinguish Dhulbahante or Warsangeli tribes from other tribes in Somaliland, such as Isaaq, Gudabiirsay or Iise, then he deserves standing obviation because such observations would be equivalent to the discoveries of an anthropologist.

In addition, the Kurdish and the Iraqi Arabs are two different ethnics, and not to mention the long ethnic cleansing that the Kurdish people have experienced in Iraq.

The fighting, concentrated within a 20 km radius around the village of Shamento, 10 km east of Jowhar, was between the two Abgal sub-clans of Muhammad Muse and Warsangeli, the sources said.

The fighting reportedly started after the self-styled "governor" of Middle Shabelle, Muhammad Umar Habib, a Warsangeli, ordered the arrest of the Jowhar "district commissioner", Fu'ad Ahmad, a Muhammad Muse.

The Muhammad Muse sub-clan took exception to this act and attacked Warsangeli positions, according to local sources.

In 1910, during the war between Sayid Mohamed Abdullah Hassan and the British Empire, Brittain abandoned its “loyal clans” and left tyhem to their devices, although they were obliged to protect them (2).

Moreover, the Warsangeli, having sided with Sayid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan, were punished for their “misbehaviour” (2).

The so-called Anglo-Somali protectorate agreements of 1884/1886, which were practically rendered null and void in 1910 were finally officially abrogated in May 1960.

The fighting was between the Warsangeli and Wa'asle sub-clans of the main Abgal clan, Awil Hashi, a Mogadishu resident said.

The fighting was started by the revenge killing of two Warsangeli businessmen in the market area by suspected Wa'asle militia early on Thursday morning, Hashi told IRIN.

The fighting, however, has its roots in a dispute between the two sub-clans over the running of El-Ma'an beach port, in north Mogadishu, which was normally controlled by the two groups, but was currently under the Warsangeli, Hashi said.

The fighting erupted on 16 May after a disagreement between two militias of the same clan who are loyal to two business people.

It involved forces guarding a hotel in the northern district of Behani, and those loyal to a local businessman from the Warsangeli subclan, which reportedly attacked the hotel, the property of a businesswoman from the Wabudan subclan.

A local journalist, however, told IRIN on Tuesday that the two sides had not withdrawn to their original positions, and "are still directly facing each other".

Darood, Isaq, Hawiye and Rahaweins etc. In such eventuality and as history attest, sub-groups as Dulbahante and/or Warsangeli will be swallowed by larger clan arrangements and thus significantly reduce their respective bargaining positions.

The recent outcry in Las Canood by the Dulbahante on unfair resource distribution in favour of the Majeerten under the Puntland’s administration and the skirmishes between Warsangeli and Puntland militia underscores this scenario.

The only factual reality is that within these sub-clans there are elements on both side of the equation and that while Somaliland would prefer a peaceful resolution of the dilemma, Puntland for whatever reason are in preference for conflict.

However, most of the local people pointed the finger of blame on Bashir Rageh Shirar, a well- known Warsangeli sub-clan businessman living in North Mogadishu.

One of the eyewitnesses even said that he recognized the vehicle and the driver of Shirar personally during the attack.

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The ONLF which for the last decade has been engaged in a hit and run insurgency against Ethiopian government forces in some parts of Ethiopia’s autonomous Somali regional state, draws its recruits exclusively from the Ogaden/Darood clan.

Abdillahi Yusuf’s Majerteen, along with Somaliland’s Dhulbahante and Warsangeli, form the Harti sub-group of the Darood clan.

There are many other Somali clans including Somaliland’s Isaak, Issa and Gadabursi that live in Ethiopia’s Somali regional state.

Though the agreement with Range was also endorsed by Abdillahi Yusuf, Puntland’s more senior warlord who had since promoted himself as president of lawless Somalia, however the terms of the deal remained secret until they were exposed in a story published by our sister publication, the daily Somali language “Haatuf”, on Jan 10, 2006.

Attempts by the Majeerteen dominated Puntland militia to subdue the local Warsangeli inhabitants led to a number of skirmishes between the two sides.

Last month’s arrival in the area of a Range team of mining experts also sparked Warsangeli resistance against any attempts at exploiting their mineral prospects.